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Bryce Canyon is distinguished by its magnificent rock spires, called hoodoos. Photo:

Canyoneering, which involves rappelling down canyon walls, is a thrilling way to experience Zion National Park. (Seth Hamel Photography )

Once you’ve hiked several miles into a canyon, scrambled across slick rock faces and squeezed through crevices to reach a precipitous ledge where you’ll drop 150 feet by a rope, there’s no turning back. Well, there is, but if you’ve gone this far on your canyoneering expedition, it’d be a long, shameful trek.

Having guides who inspire complete trust — no small thing when you’re rappelling the equivalent of a 15-story building — is essential. With us at the top was Gerard, a hunky Aaron Eckhart look-alike who tightened harnesses, checked that ropes were properly threaded through our Pirana (the device that connects you to the rope) and offered soothing words of encouragement. At the bottom was blue-eyed BJ, whose call, “BJ on belay” — meaning, he would be the one to apply the “brake” on the rope, should we start falling — echoed up the steep canyon walls.

Fortunately there were no falls, only a few frazzled nerves and skinned knuckles, and everyone in our small group agreed — this was the way to experience Zion National Park.

Of course, there’s no need to go to such extremes to navigate Zion, which attracts nearly 3 million visitors each year (making it the most visited of Utah’s five national parks). There are several easy, paved trails (like the stroller-clogged 1.2-mile hike to lower Emerald Pool), all the way to a strenuous, 12-hour, top-down hike through the Narrows. For the truly unambitious, shuttle buses provide a narrated 80-minute tour through the park.

As impressive as Zion is, with its soaring sandstone cliffs and jagged monoliths, Bryce Canyon — about a 1½-hour drive northeast — is the national park that draws the most gasps and a frenzy of snapshots (at least among our group). Its distinguishing hoodoos — fiery red and orange rock spires — stretch for miles; they’re best viewed from above, from the rim of the natural amphitheater.

But there’s no substitute for hiking down into Bryce’s maze of slot canyons, arches and funky sandstone formations. Take the Navajo Loop (the most popular route), then tack on the easy Queen’s Garden Trail to get even better views of those wacky hoodoos (the combined route is about 3 miles).

Now you probably don’t know it, but you’re just a few hours’ drive from another of Utah’s national parks, Capitol Reef. That’s not surprising, given that only 750,000 people annually make the trip along scenic Highway 12 to this 242,000-acre park (it’s nearly seven times larger than Bryce, which gets 1.4 million visitors).

Capitol Reef was so named because 1) a looming white sandstone dome resembled that of the White House, and 2) the 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold formed a barrier (or “reef”) to early travelers. And maybe that applies to modern-day hikers, too, since on a beautiful late spring Sunday, we encountered only a handful of people on our four-hour trek.

That’s not to say the park’s terrain is more difficult than that of Zion or Bryce — it’s just a whole lot wilder. There are no shuttle buses, much less signs marking the trails; look for cairns (small stacks of stones) to guide you as you hike.

A must-see is Cohab Canyon, reached by climbing a series of steep switchbacks that then descend into a valley lined with water-pocked sandstone walls resembling something out of “The Flintstones.” This hidden canyon was used by polygamist settlers in the late 1800s to hide from federal agents.

Perhaps the coolest thing about Capitol Reef is its orchards — thousands of peach, cherry, apple and other fruit trees (and a few nut trees) have been growing there since settlers planted them in the 1880s. Visitors can harvest the fruit themselves or head to the park’s Gifford Homestead, part of the preserved historic Mormon town of Fruita, and gobble up one of the delicious cherry, strawberry-rhubarb or peach pies ($5 each) — much of the fruit plucked straight from the orchards next door.

THE LOWDOWN

GETTING THERE: From Las Vegas, the drive to Zion National Park will take about three hours. Or, fly into the Salt Lake City airport and catch a shuttle flight to St. George, which is just 40 miles from Zion.

STAY: Minutes from Zion, in Springdale, is the just-opened Hampton Inn & Suites with nice-sized rooms and an outdoor pool and hot tub surrounded by red rock cliffs (from $152, hamptoninn.hilton.com). The Stone Canyon Inn, in tiny Tropic, is just 20 minutes from Bryce Canyon; there are rooms in the main lodge, but the freestanding two-bedroom cottages (for up to six people) include kitchens and an outdoor hot tub for some great star-gazing (rooms from $145, cottages from $330, stonecanyoninn.com). In Torrey, Bicknell and Teasdale, the closest towns to Capitol Reef, you’ll find a variety of local lodging options.

TO DO: If a half-day canyoneering trip ($125 per person for groups of two and up) sounds too intense, the Zion Adventure Company also offers hiking, tubing and biking trips in the area (zionadventures.com).